ARTICLE I.-RETURNS.

CONFORMITY TO LAW.

SECTION 1. To secure conformity to the requirements of section 197, United States Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of February 27, 1877 (19 Stat. L., 241), the following regulations regarding returns of property in the Department are promulgated:

1. Auditor. The Chief of the Division of Publications and Supplies is hereby designated Auditor of Property Returns for the Department, and he is directed to receive, verify, and preserve the returns from the various bureaus and offices. He will make report to the Secretary, embodying therein any recommendations as to changes in form or details, with a view to securing the largest degree of uniformity consistent with the diverse conditions of the various services.

2. Outside of Washington.-Returns from the Immigration Service outside of Washington will continue to be made as at present, and no duplicates will be sent to the Office of the Secretary.

3. In Washington.-Semiannual returns of all Government property in Washington will be rendered on June 30 and December 31 of each year by the heads of the following bureaus or offices: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Bureau of Immigration; Division of Information; Children's Bureau; Bureau of Naturalization; Secretary and Assistant Secretary's Office (by Chief Clerk); Solicitor; Chief Clerk; Disbursing Clerk; and Division of Publications and Supplies. Returns required by this paragraph will be prepared upon forms furnished by the Department and all articles entered therein will be strictly in alphabetical order regardless of classification. The property to be accounted for in the return will consist of books, furniture (including cases and shelving), carpets and other floor coverings, electric fans, desk lights, etc.; typewriting, numbering, dating, and similar machines; copying presses, baths, etc.; duplicating machines, tools, and other property not above mentioned, except stationery and fuel. The term "stationery" includes only such articles and material as are consumed by the use to which they are put. The instructions for rendering property returns (see sec. 3) contain a list showing the character of the supplies to be classed as stationery. No property other than that indicated in section 3, paragraph 7, may be dropped from the semiannual returns except by authority of the Secretary, and each return must clearly indicate the disposition of any property thus dropped, giving the date of the Department letter authorizing condemnation or sale.

BOARD OF SURVEY.

SEC. 2. There is constituted a Board of Survey, consisting of the Chief of the Division of Publications and Supplies (who will act as chairman), the Engineer, and a designated representative of the Chief Clerk, whose duty it will be to examine and report upon such requests as may be submitted from time to time for its action by chiefs of bureaus and offices for the disposition of Government property which is old, unserviceable, lost, or destroyed. In the temporary absence of a member of the board, other than the chairman, the Chief Clerk may designate a person to act in his stead. In the absence of the Chief of the Division of Publications and Supplies the acting chief of that division shall act as chairman.

1. Inspection reports. Chiefs of bureaus and offices desiring to dispose of such property shall send to the chairman of the board a report thereof, prepared in duplicate upon forms to be furnished by the Department.

2. Survey. Upon receipt of such report the board shall make a careful examination of the same, and of the articles enumerated therein, with a view to determining whether it is practicable to repair and utilize in any other branch of the Department any of the articles included in such report, whether they may be of service to some other branch of the Government, or whether the articles have no further usefulness for Government purposes.

3. Recommendations. The board will submit to the Secretary its recommendations as to the disposal of such property, stating specifically as to each article whether it can be repaired and utilized or whether it shall be sold or otherwise disposed of.

4. Disposition of property. Upon approval of the board's recommendations by the Secretary one copy of the report will be forwarded to the Auditor of Property Returns and the remaining copy returned to the accountable officer who, upon receipt of same, will dispose of the property in accordance with the instructions thereon. When an article has no sale value, or its condition is such that its further use would be a detriment to public health, its immediate destruction is authorized and the authority to so destroy vested in the board.

5. Auction sales.-In case the recommendation of the board is for the sale of the property, it shall hold, or cause to be held, auction sales at such times as in its judgment will secure the best returns to the Government, or the property may be sold under sealed proposals issued or authorized by the board.

MAKING RETURNS.

SEC. 3. Section 197, United States Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of February 27, 1877 (19 Stat. L., 241), reads as follows: "The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary

of the Interior, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster General, the Attorney General, and Commissioner of Agriculture shall keep, in proper books, a complete inventory of all the property belonging to the United States in the buildings, rooms, offices, and grounds occupied by them, respectively, and under their charge, adding thereto, from time to time, an account of such property as may be procured subsequently to the taking of such inventory, as well as an account of the sale or other disposition of any such property (except supplies of stationery and fuel in the public offices, and books, pamphlets, and papers in the Library of Congress." The organic act of March 4, 1913, provides that "Section one hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to include such Department, and the provisions of title four (which includes sec. 197) of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments thereto, are hereby made applicable to said Department." In order to more clearly and accurately carry out the provisions of the above-quoted acts the following instructions are promulgated:

1. Semiannually. Property returns required by the foregoing regulations will be rendered semiannually for the periods of July 1 to December 31 and January 1 to June 30, on forms to be obtained from the Auditor of Property Returns.

2. Duplicates. The returns should be prepared in duplicate, the original to be forwarded to the auditor not later than 20 days after the close of a period and the duplicate to remain on file in the office to which it appertains.

3. Inventory. The return should show a complete record, based on an actual inventory taken at stated periods in the discretion of accountable officers, of all property belonging to the United States in the possession of such officer, with the total value of same.

4. Remarks. In accounting for property acquired through sources other than the Division of Publications and Supplies, due notice of the fact should be stated in the remarks column opposite each item so taken up.

5. Articles to be accounted for.-The following articles, and others of a similar character not heretofore carried on the return, will be accounted for:

Pans, copying cloth.
Pens, fountain.
Pens, stylographic.
Plumber's Friend.

Pots, twine.

Racks, pen.

Racks, stamp, strip.

Racks, stamp, wheel.
Rests, arm.

Rulers, desk, assorted.

Saucers, paint.
Scales, draftsman's.

Sets, nail.

Shades, window.

Stamps, metal, dating.
Stamps, rubber.

Stands, calendar.
Stands, ink.

Stands, ink (sets).

Stands, ink, traveler's.
Stands, mucilage.
Supports, book.

Type, metal body (sets).

Type, metal (pounds).
Type, rubber (sets).
Weights, paper.

Wells, water.

Inventory of the foregoing articles should be made and the quantities remaining on hand entered in the return.

6. Articles not to be accounted for.—Under the term "stationery" will be included such articles and others of similar nature as the following, which are consumed by the uses to which put:

These articles will not be accounted for on the return, in accordance with section 197, United States Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of February 27, 1877 (19 Stat. L., 241).

Such material as nails, screws, lumber, iron, steel, paints, etc., which are consumed by the uses to which they are put, or by process of manufacture become component parts of an article, will not be accounted for on the return.

7. Articles dropped by certificate.—Articles that may be dropped from the return upon a certificate signed by the accountable officer: